It’s hard to imagine what went through the mind of Scott Drew his first three seasons as Baylor men’s head basketball coach.

Drew took over a program in 2003-04 mired in possibly the worst scandal in NCAA history.

The key points of the scandal included: the murder of Baylor player Patrick Dennehy by teammate Carlton Dotson in summer 2003; then-head coach Dave Bliss paying tuition for two of his players; and Bliss encouraging players to fabricate stories to authorities saying Dennehy sold illegal drugs. Dotson pleaded guilty two years later to Dennehy’s murder. The NCAA slapped Baylor with many penalties, including probation and loss of scholarships. And Bliss was hit with a 10-year “show-cause” penalty for universities wanting to hire him.

Bliss resigned in August 2003, and this was the mess Drew inherited about the same time students were returning to campus for fall semester – extremely late for a coach starting a new position.

Drew’s teams went a combined 21-53 his first three seasons at Baylor, including 8-40 in Big 12 play. That third season, the NCAA banned Baylor from playing nonconference games. Some plum job.

But the Bears had a mini-breakthrough with a 15-16 mark in 2006-07. And Baylor is 120-54 in five seasons since then. Drew and the Bears are in the Sweet 16 for the second time in three years. The senior class is the winningest four-year class in Baylor men’s history.

Baylor (29-7) takes on Xavier (23-12) in a South Regional semifinal Friday night. The winner moves on to play either overall No. 1 seed Kentucky (34-2) or Indiana (27-8).

It’s not inconceivable to see the Bears reach the Final Four. Sure, Xavier is tourney tough. And Kentucky is seemingly everyone’s choice to win the NCAA title.

But here’s the thing. Kentucky is talented, but also young and inexperienced. Baylor is older and battle-tested.

Kentucky’s 13-man roster is loaded with six freshmen. Sure, one of them is player of the year Anthony Davis. But the Wildcats have only four juniors and seniors.

Baylor’s 13-man roster has only two freshmen and includes six juniors and seniors.

Teams with too much youth often fall apart somewhere in the tournament. Maybe Kentucky rolls to the title, maybe not. But I think the ’Cats are going to have to get past Baylor first.

And you know Drew and the Bears will not back down from that challenge. After all, they’ve overcome tougher challenges.